birefringence
/baɪɹɪˈfɹɪnd͡ʒəns/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.90 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The splitting of a ray of light into two parallel rays of perpendicular polarization by passage through an optically anisotropic medium; the property of a material that light passing through it is so split.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "In figure 6, the birefringence, δ, for 2H, 4H, 6H, and 15R is plotted as a function of wavelength."
- "This means that, in contrast to the relaxation after steady shear flow, one has actually to expect that there will be a significant difference in the speeds of relaxation of birefringence and recoverable shear like the difference suggested by the courses of curves I and II of Fig.4.1."
- "In this paper, two-dimensional thermal and mechanical stress-induced birefringence measurements in laser-diode-pumped solid-state laser materials using the new polarimeter are described."
- "2012, Luís A. Fernandes, Birefringence and Bragg grating control in femtosecond laser written optical circuits, Departamento de Física e Astronomia da Universidade do Porto, page 112, Heat accumulation in borosilicate glass [23] has [been] shown to produce lower birefringence due to radial stress regions as opposed to the more asymmetric stress produced in fused silica [136, 137]; however, these features remain unexplored in most glasses."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Italic *dwi- Latin bi-bor. English bi- English refringence English birefringence From bi- + refringence.
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Frequently Paired Words
birefringent
monorefringence
refringence
trirefringence
birefraction
birefractive
birefractivity
dextrorotation